Chapter 154
Chapter 154
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 154
Chapter Title: Memory
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Walter Gares, the senior professor and dean of the Divinity Faculty, was a notorious eccentric throughout all of Elpante.
People would spot him chugging hard liquor straight from the bottle while dancing half-naked atop the Gregory Tower, or he'd leap off heights of several hundred meters bare-bodied to test the limits of his divine power, or belt out rowdy hymns at the drop of a hat.
Sometimes, he'd do all of it at once.
Even without going that far, anyone who spent more than three seconds face-to-face with him would agree that Walter was no ordinary human.
“The whirlpool of fate, the call of the stars, and the primordial curse slumbering in my right arm's black flame dragon have guided our meeting to this place.”
“...”
[...What the hell is he saying?]
It's just a greeting.
To him, this is perfectly normal small talk.
[...Isn't this guy insane?]
‘...Honestly, he kind of is.’
[...]
A silence heavy with disbelief echoed back through the Soul Linker, but I was just stating the plain truth.
This guy was a full-on comprehensive gift set of mental illness.
In his head right now, the part responsible for ‘reason’ and the part that made his body pull off crazy stunts were both functioning simultaneously.
So his usual speech and actions seemed perfectly rational on the surface, but what came out of his mouth or his behavior could turn into a brake-less, no-holds-barred lunatic at any moment.
[...So why the hell is someone like that a professor? Shouldn't he be in a hospital?]
‘For starters, aside from the weird speech patterns, he communicates just fine. And more importantly...’
[More importantly?]
‘His skills are the real deal.’
In other words, he was so ridiculously talented that he could be a senior professor at Elpante's Divinity Faculty despite all those handicaps piled on.
Which meant there were things only he could handle.
At the very least, when it came to ‘consecration work’—processing items with divine power—no one surpassed him, not even the Saint herself. Walter was that kind of monster.
“...I've come to pick up the item I requested, Dean Walter.”
At my words, Walter swept dramatically toward his desk with exaggerated gestures.
It was theatrical enough to suit a stage play protagonist.
“Behold, then, the masterpiece of the century, forged from the convergence of one being's primal desires and instincts. It captivates all around it merely by existing—”
“Oh, does that mean the work turned out better than expected? I only asked for a simple consecration.”
“Even in a world filled solely with despair, a single handful of hope allows the fragile yet resilient human to endure—”
“Wow, so you preserved its original nature while making reinforcement possible? That's impressive.”
See what I mean?
Told you his skills were legit.
[...How are you even holding a conversation with him?!]
“...”
Who knows.
I've run into him so often in the game that I can more or less parse what he's saying.
I just roll with it on instinct.
‘...It'll come in handy later anyway.’
Walter would play a big role later in lifting Elnor's unique debuff, her mania.
No harm in being able to communicate with him.
Anyway.
“The spiritual flaw inherent in humans as social creatures is that they cannot survive alone, and in this horrific imbalance of dissociation, I cry out—”
“Thank you for the offer, but I'll pass on the refreshments for now.”
I politely declined and left Walter's office.
In my hand was the orb-shaped soul spirit he'd processed for me.
To be precise.
[Item Info]
[ ▲ Tatiana Grachel ] [ Processed ]
[ Specialty: Curse ]
[ Form: Soul Spirit ]
[ Processing Options ]
▶ Subordinate as Familiar
▶ Impart as Reinforcement Material to Item
▶ Resummon in Complete Form (Disappears after 1 use)
Normally, you'd pick just one of the three options, but thanks to Walter's craftsmanship, I could still choose one of the other two even after using it as reinforcement material.
‘...Not bad.’
It might pale in comparison to Valkasus, but Tatiana was still a powerhouse when it came to curses. Whether as a familiar or resummon, it'd come in handy eventually.
I could decide later, though.
For now, the task was to impart it to the Soul Linker as reinforcement material.
Time to power up Caliban.
[...Power me up? Why?]
“Why are you dodging when I'm offering something good?”
[No, that's not it. If you have a way to reinforce, you should buff yourself or Eliya first. Why me? I'm just a parasite in your head at best.]
“...”
Why does he have to say it like that?
Sure, his current abilities were limited to shuttling my buff skills, but that was just because our soul sync rate was low.
Caliban was a core pillar of this chapter's clear, right alongside Eliya. There were plenty of situations where he'd need to shine.
Especially when my life was on the line moment to moment—I'd be relying on him a lot.
Prioritizing his upgrade was a no-brainer.
I shrugged and held the orb-shaped soul spirit against the Soul Linker.
A window popped up immediately.
[ Soul Linker ] [ Exclusive Equipment ]
[ Enchant: Epic ]
[ Equipment inhabited by a great soul spirit. Raise the sync rate to awaken the spirit's consciousness. ]
[ Always infused with mana due to the great soul's influence. ]
[ Current mana charge: 100% ]
[ Current sync rate: 40% ]
It'd been a while since I'd seen this window.
Pretty much the first time since I first awakened him.
[ Current sync rate: 40% ]
[ Soul Stage 2 consciousness can be unlocked! ]
[ Proceed with unlock? ] [Y/N]
No hesitation—I tapped Y.
And then.
“...Hm?”
The Soul Linker began emitting an ominous glow.
My consciousness, staring at it, nearly rocketed away for a split second.
●
It felt like swimming through a dream.
Floating aimlessly in the air was the first sensation.
Looking around, I was in a changing room made of rough yet luxurious marble.
“Mm...”
It felt like I'd become a spirit myself. My body was transparent, and none of the ‘humans’ around noticed me.
I'd been forcibly pulled into Caliban's mental world before, when raising his sync rate previously.
This must be the same phenomenon triggered by the sync rate increase.
Nearby, well-trained humans bustled past me, chattering noisily.
It had all the vibes of an athlete's locker room—steamy with sweat and macho energy.
But the standout detail.
Every single one of them bore scars so deep they were hard to even look at.
It screamed that each person here was a hero who'd clawed their way out of hellish battlefields.
“Damn, how do you even walk around with that tiny thing between your legs? I'd kill myself. No wonder your wife left you for someone else—it's obvious—”
“Say one more word, and I'll make yours even shorter—”
“Anyway, the two smallest dicks here are the ones bitching nonstop—”
“...”
The crude banter flying past made my head spin a bit, but these guys were definitely heroes who'd turned the tide.
And then.
Someone strode into the crowded changing room.
Golden armor etched with runes—the hallmark of an elite knight.
Leading them was someone I recognized.
‘...Gideon?’
It was Gideon, but he looked several years younger than now.
Come to think of it, when I first entered this space, it mentioned ‘replaying’ memories.
This was clearly from way back.
“Who's in charge here.”
The room fell silent the instant those words rang out.
Doubt and wariness filled everyone's eyes.
“Me.”
In the now deathly quiet space, an orange-haired man's voice settled over the entire room.
Gideon glanced at the name on the locker where the man sat.
Caliban Chrisanax. The first Guardian.
“I am—”
“I know who you are, Grand Duke Tristan.”
Gideon’s words cut off mid-sentence as Caliban tossed them out casually.
He was drying his freshly washed hair with a towel, looking annoyed.
The knights accompanying Gideon twitched at the rudeness, but the Guardians ignored it entirely.
“How many men do you have available right now?”
Silence fell over the Guardians at Gideon’s question.
The Guardians, the empire's strongest imperial guards, enjoyed significant autonomy. Aside from the emperor, no one could speak to them so authoritatively.
In cases like this, though, there was usually just one scenario.
A mess so bad no one else could handle it.
“...The ten here, plus the off-duty ones, makes about fifteen. What's this about?”
“Call everyone in and arm them. You’re needed for a mission.”
Caliban smirked.
“Yeah? What kind?”
“...Can’t say yet.”
“...”
Caliban chuckled wordlessly.
Towel over his shoulder, he walked right up to Gideon.
His orange eyes gleamed coldly.
“Then we’re not interested, Your Grace.”
As Caliban locked eyes with Gideon from point-blank range, one of his accompanying knights snapped in fury.
The man’s hand was already on his sword hilt, ready to draw.
“How dare you! Do you know who this—”
“Shut your mouth if you don’t wanna die.”
That single line made the knights’ hands tremble slightly on their swords.
“If you’re not sure you can kill us all, think twice before drawing that. We’re holding back plenty right now.”
Savage grins spread across the nearby Guardians’ faces at Caliban’s words.
They were all unarmed. The knights were fully geared.
Yet the fully armed knights facing them were the ones losing ground in sheer presence.
Caliban scratched his nape nonchalantly and continued in a bored tone.
“We’re Guardians. Our job is saving people. Nothing else matters to us.”
But.
Those eyes held a condensed violence that rivaled a feral beast.
“Even if the Grand Duke’s grandpa himself showed up, we won’t budge without a damn good reason. Got it?”
“...”
After a long silence, Gideon sighed and spoke.
“...It’s a request from the Heresy Inquisition. They’ll supply consecrated gear and ask for your cooperation in exorcism.”
The Guardians, Caliban included, looked stunned at once.
“We’re knights, Your Grace. Demon-hunting ain’t our specialty.”
“The Inquisition requested your conscription directly. It’s classified, so normally I’d tell you on deployment, but—”
Gideon continued in a stiff voice.
“...A rampaging demon’s been detected in the empire’s far east. Three cities turned to ash in half a day.”
He forced the words out.
“They want you to halt that demon, even if just for a little while.”
“...Halt it? For how long?”
“One night.”
Caliban let out a hollow laugh.
“...That sounds like pure shit just hearing it.”
Gideon bit his lip until it bled.
“You’re saying throw all of us into the grinder to save imperial citizens?”
“...”
Gideon himself knew it as he spoke.
A rampaging demon was a calamity no one but a holy sword-wielding hero could face.
Asking them to hold it for a whole night?
Even with consecrated gear, it was suicide, nothing more or less.
Right now, Gideon was driving them into the jaws of death.
“...”
After a long silence, Caliban sighed and spoke.
“If we don’t, how many die?”
“...No telling.”
Gideon replied gravely.
“What’s certain is, if you can’t stop it, at least hundreds of thousands will perish. Thousands died just yesterday.”
“Then we do it.”
Caliban answered without hesitation.
His tone was so flat it made even Gideon, who’d spoken, widen his eyes in surprise.
“Let’s hear the details, Your Grace.”
As if.
“No one else seems up to it anyway.”
To them, this was just par for the course.
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[System Message]
[ Target ‘Caliban’s consciousness has been unlocked! ]
[ A special memory is replaying! ]
[ Collect all special memories to generate a ‘Holy Sword’ related event! ]
My consciousness snapped back with those messages.
“...”
I stared at the Soul Linker, dumbfounded.
That.
Was definitely Caliban during the Dark Night Incident.
[What? Why’re you spacing out all of a sudden?]
“...”
No, honestly.
He looked different to me now.
I’d only seen him spouting frivolous nonsense.
This guy was a Guardian for a reason.
[Whoa? What’s up?]
“...It’s nothing.”
I shook my head with a wry smile.
To him, that was a memory tied to his death. No way seeing it would make him happy.
As that thought crossed my mind.
[ As the imprinted thought body on the ‘Soul Linker’ awakens, some functions unlock. ]
[ Fusion of ‘Soul Spirit: Orb’ confirmed. ]
[ A skill has been additionally unlocked! ]
Such a window appeared before me.
‘...Oh, right.’
Last time the soul sync rose, a skill unlocked too.
Must be the same deal.
I skimmed the next window that popped up.
“...Holy shit.”
My pupils dilated wide.
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